* FEAR NOT * 
THE CROSSING 

wmmammmmm 

GAIL WILLIAMS 




Class _ii_ 

Book 

Copyright N°. 



)&LL 



CDEXRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Fear Not 
The Crossing 



WRITTEN DOWN BY 

GAIL WILLIAMS 




NEW YORK 
EDWARD J. CLODE 



I* 



£F(3oi 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 
EDWARD J. CLODE 



JAN 28 1320 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

i 



A561632 



INTRODUCTION 

In the autumn of 191 7 I was dining with 
some friends, whose house is set in an 
orchard overlooking Puget Sound and the 
Olympic Mountains. My host was a busi- 
ness man; his wife a very charming 
woman with an eagerness for sincerity 
equal to her flair for discovering and en- 
joying whatever is beautiful. There were 
also around the table her sister, whose lit- 
erary gift is marked, a young professor, a 
lawyer, a mining man, and two other 
mothers of households like myself. 

As we were chatting about various mat- 
ters, someone brought up Sir Oliver 
Lodge's Raymond, and at once very defi- 

[5] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



nite and very opposing points of view were 
precipitated. Nearly everyone conceded 
that Sir Oliver's integrity of purpose was 
not to be questioned, but there were many 
concurrences to the hypothesis that grief 
for his son had more or less undermined 
his sanity. They held that even if the 
book were partially true, the portions de- 
scribing the activities of the table were 
irrefutable evidences of his inability to see 
things as they were; in short that, although 
by telepathy of one sort or another, there 
might possibly have been mediumistic mes- 
sages that proved to be true, there could 
not have been rapping tables not animated 
by ordinary, human, muscular exertion. 

Then laconically the professor said, 
" Oh, yes, I have seen that sort of thing. 
I don't know how it happens, but it does 
happen." 

[6] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Now usually one takes a friend's word 
as one takes an experience, as something 
incontrovertible. But however much de- 
sire to be loyal strained towards belief, 
that seemed too much for the reason to 
accept unproved. 

Later on, then, while bridge was in 
progress, four of us went into the dining- 
room, where the electric lights were sup- 
planting the burnt-out candles, and, plac- 
ing an ordinary wooden bedroom table on 
the bare floor, we sat down in chairs placed 
comfortably around it, our hands resting 
lightly upon its top. 

After a certain interval the table stirred, 
then very slowly tipped up and down. 
Soon, as it began to tip more rapidly, the 
professor said, 

" Tip once for yes, and twice for no, in 
answer to direct questions; and if you wish 

[7] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



to spell out words of your own, tip once 
for A, twice for B, three times for C, four 
for D, etc." 

Thereupon plausible messages were 
rapped out. Of course, I looked to see 
whether anyone was, unconsciously or 
otherwise, touching the table in any way. 
But the only contact, I ascertained abso- 
lutely, was through the hands resting on 
the surface of the top, a position in which 
our own muscular exertion, even if ap- 
plied, could not effect the motion. I shall 
never forget my breathless amazement. 

The first evidence of psychic phenomena 
experienced is a sensation that rearranges 
all mental lassitude. One may like the pos- 
sibilities thereby opened up, or one may 
dislike them very much, but thereafter 
they must be faced as realities. 

At that time I had done almost no read- 

[8] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



ing on this subject, and was so inexperi- 
enced and uninformed that, because I 
knew the characters of my friends and the 
nature of my environment both to be in- 
capable of lending themselves to fraud, 
and because the context of the messages 
we received seemed perfectly in keeping 
with the names given by the communi- 
cators, I quite simply assumed that some- 
how the intelligences of certain people 
known to us, who had died several years 
previously, were communicating their 
ideas to us in a way that, however curious, 
was still a means of expression. 

Now, however, that I have learned more 
about the subject, and have read care- 
fully the books of Dr. Hyslop and Pro- 
fessor Crawford and other investigators of 
psychic phenomena, I realize that my ex- 
perience was in no scientific sense a proof 

[9] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



of anything whatever. And of this account 
and the accounts that follow, I am the first 
to say that the scientific value amounts to 
nothing. 

If, however, the reader is willing to 
accept my personal sincerity and to over- 
look the absence of laboratory methods, he 
may be interested to follow a rather full 
account of the various experiences that led 
to my automatic writing. 

Soon after this a very startling com- 
munication occurred at my own house. 
One evening some friends and I had tried 
table-tipping again, with interesting but 
not unusual results, when, as we stood up 
to leave, resting our fingers on the top of 
the table almost by chance, we were aston- 
ished to have it rise up and whack down 
again with an alarming degree of force. 

[10] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Anne, a young artist, exclaimed, 

" You wish to give us another mes- 
sage? " 

Again came a powerful thump. At 
once, with the most surprising urgency, it 
spelt out that the communicator was a 
Mrs. Dugan who was sending a message 
from Brenda. The message was not for 
us, but for Henry. 

None of us could recall ever having 
known anyone named Brenda, save I, who 
had known a girl of that name at school 
years before; and it came into my mind 
that, perhaps unknown to me, she had 
died and was now seeking means of com- 
munication. 

As for Henry, there being no one pres- 
ent of that name, we assumed that a near 
relation of Anne's was being designated, 
and asked directly, 

[ii] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



11 Henry Parr? » 

I mention the identities we were think- 
ing of to show how remote our thoughts 
were from what transpired. 

Again the table was exceedingly em- 
phatic and definite. 

" No, not Henry Parr, Henry Olson." 

For a moment we were puzzled. The 
only Henry Olson we knew of kept a store 
in the city in which we were living, a well- 
educated naturalized citizen, well liked by 
everyone who knew him, but in no way an 
intimate friend. 

Once more the table thumped with ex- 
traordinary vigor, 

" Pray tell Henry beware death trea- 
son." 

Then reiterating, 

" Pray tell him beware." 

We tried to ascertain Brenda's identity. 

[12] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



She was Henry's niece, and had died 
in one of the Scandinavian countries 
two years previously, when she was seven- 
teen. 

Again the table rapped out, 

" Pray tell him." 

It is hard to describe the emotion that 
seemed to be transmitted through the table 
with the words. Such urgency, such seri- 
ousness were there that we felt impelled 
to consent to do what we could. 

Then later, when we began to consider 
carrying out the request, it presented the 
impossible aspect of actions readily gone 
through in dreams when considered the 
next morning in relation to everyday 
living. 

How could Anne or her sister or I stop 
in at Mr. Olson's store and say, 

"Beware of death" or "What is this 

[ 13 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



about treason? Your niece, Brenda, wants 
you to be careful." 

There we were, wanting to be fair to 
Brenda, assuming that she was really an 
individual; yet being most unwilling to 
go to Mr. Olson about it. 

In considering the possible courses, we 
even thought of writing anonymously, but 
could not bring ourselves to a means so 
ethically against the grain. Finally, a 
level-headed engineer, who had been pres- 
ent throughout the evening, volunteered to 
telephone to Mr. Olson, and to ask him at 
once whether he were the uncle of a girl 
named Brenda, who had died fairly re- 
cently, withholding his own name until the 
relationship had been established. Then, 
with that point confirmed, he would go to 
see him and describe the extraordinary oc- 
currence; or if refuted, merely say that 

[14] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



there had been a mistake, and drop the 
matter for good. 

The telephoning, however, proved en- 
tirely unsatisfactory. Mr. Olson promptly 
interrupted by saying, 

"Who is this talking?" 

Moreover, when undaunted, the inquiry 
about Brenda proceeded, Mr. Olson broke 
in decisively, 

" I do not speak without knowing to 
whom," and hung up his receiver. 

Of course, we were disappointed. The 
unusual, imploring, emphatic nature of 
the table communication had aroused our 
very deep interest. But with our interest 
was mingled the realization that however 
much we might wish to probe our psychic 
experiments, we had no right to cause an- 
noyance to others; and that annoyance was 
a mild expression for the feeling that Mr. 

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Fear Not the Crossing 



Olson would have could he know that 
three of his fellow citizens had received a 
psychic message that quite definitely im- 
plied that his conduct (either actual or 
contemplated) was not legitimate. 

At just this time, while I was doing a 
few errands downtown, I chanced to meet 
a close friend who was prominent in the 
Red Cross. Her glance fell upon my shop- 
ping list, partially crossed off as it was, 
and at once she became grave, saying, 

"If you have anything to get that's to 
be eaten or even touched, don't go to 
Olson's. I can't tell you details, but the 
Secret Service is watching every move 
that goes on there." 

And there our climax hangs. As my 
husband summarized it all when I re- 
counted the adventure to him soon after- 
wards, 

[16] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



" If Olson was mixed up in treason, 
Brenda or no Brenda, he ought to be hung. 
And if not — you couldn't go and insult a 
man because a table went in for tip- 
ping." 

A fortnight or so after this when I was 
spending a week-end with my husband 
near the camp where he was stationed, we 
attempted a table sitting by ourselves. Our 
room had no curtains, consequently we 
could be sure of privacy only by having 
no light, which may perhaps partly ac- 
count for the new development in our 
experiences. 

After we had waited a certain interval 
with our hands resting lightly upon the 
top of the table, it stirred, then moved. 
We established our usual code, and with 
great rapidity the name of my husband's 
father was spelt. Then faster and faster 

[17] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



the table was moved, until the motion re- 
solved into a brisk rocking. 

Presently my right arm and hand began 
to jerk slightly in a way that suggested 
that possibly I was being impelled to 
write. My husband reached for a pencil 
and block of paper, and for the next few 
minutes my hand fairly raced over the 
pages, writing with the greatest possible 
speed, but as we discovered, entirely il- 
legibly. My whole arm felt as if it had 
been in contact with a battery; it was cold 
and slightly numb, but after a while be- 
came quite normal again. 

We both felt more or less tantalized, and 
wondered whether we should ever have a 
complete experience. The Olson episode 
was not concluded satisfactorily, the bar- 
rier to its solution in that case being 
our own distaste for being impertinent; 

[18] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



whereas now we were being the recipients 
of a message that we could not in any way 
decipher. We were, however, getting very 
near to complete communications. 

The weeks went on, and just as count- 
less families found moving all about the 
country their personal lot in the war, the 
children and I became wanderers. For 
more than a month I stayed in a very de- 
lightful city where I was so fortunate as 
to be thrown with particularly interesting 
and charming people. Among them was 
a young married woman, the daughter of 
a distinguished man named Lee Caradoc, 
to whom I shall allude as Katharine, who 
asked me to luncheon one day with a few 
of her friends, among whom was her life- 
long friend, Ellen. 

Katharine spoke, at the time, of her 

[19] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



father's being very used up by a severe 
cold, which he had caught a few days pre- 
viously, and added that the doctor had 
that morning sent for a trained nurse. 
Within a fortnight pneumonia had devel- 
oped, resulting in his death. 

I had never met Mr. Caradoc, but was 
deeply sorry for Katharine, whom I liked 
so much. Mr. Caradoc's remarkably fine 
mind, uncommon ability and wide interests 
made his death a loss not only to his 
family and immediate circle of friends, 
but to the whole community. 

A few days after this, when I was at 
the house of the Jeromes, a mother and 
daughter whom I had enjoyed meeting 
very much, Ellen's sister Julia arrived. 
She had known the entire Caradoc family 
very well for years, so that it was natural 
to inquire of her how they were getting 

[20] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



on. With the sun pouring in the windows, 
and the air fragrant with spring, death 
seemed especially relentless and tragic. 

We spoke then of the recent develop- 
ments in psychical research. The Jeromes 
had experienced several remarkable psy- 
chical adventures, and Mrs. Jerome, it 
seemed, had mediumistic power, of which 
she never liked to speak because of the 
adverse attitude held by so many people 
for the entire subject. I told them of the 
table tippings I had witnessed, which 
phenomena they had never seen, and were 
anxious to observe. As Julia, too, was in- 
terested to attempt it, we went to the up- 
stairs sitting-room, cleared a wooden table, 
and there, with the sunshine streaming in, 
we four sat down, our hands resting lightly 
on the table top. 

Presently the table creaked, strained, 

[21] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



then tipped, and after establishing the code 
as I always do, the name of my younger 
brother, Peter, was spelt, who had died 
four years previously, when he was 
fifteen. 

It was his birthday, so that I spoke of 
that; then I asked him for news of our 
brother Anthony, then a lieutenant in 
France. The word " sick " was then spelt 
out, but I, knowing that in the autumn, 
when his eyes had given him trouble, he 
had been kept in the hospital for some 
time, imagined that perhaps a mistake in 
time was being made, and that by then all 
was well. Very soon, however, I learned 
that at just that time Anthony was suf- 
fering from pneumonia. 

Then the character of the tipping 
changed and the name Jack was spelt. At 
once Miss Jerome exclaimed, 

[22] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



" Oh, I know who that must be, my old 
friend Jack Farsdale." 

Whereupon the table thumped out, 

" No, Jack Durant," spelling the name 
of a cousin of mine killed in the air serv- 
ice a short while previously. 

I had not seen him for so long that my 
only idea of him was of a very small boy, 
clad in white pique kilts with massy light 
curls dancing on his head, and I literally 
could think of nothing to say to him, be- 
yond inquiring if he were all right, to 
which he assented. 

Subsequently I had other messages from 
him, including a remarkable drawing of 
an airplane, done in nearly complete ob- 
scurity by means of a planchette. Accord- 
ing to his accounts, after his death he was 
met by Peter " on the other side " and they 
have worked there together a great deal. 

D23] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Again the character of the table tipping 
changed, and Mr. Caradoc's name was 
given. The others were startled and 
dropped their hands, so that with my 
hands alone touching the table top, this 
message came, 

"Tell Katharine glad were no cut 
flowers." 

Mr. Caradoc's funeral had been by his 
expressed wish absolutely simple in every 
way. 

Then, because table communications are 
of necessity very slow, Mrs. Jerome at- 
tempted automatic writing. She picked up 
a pencil and rapidly — as my hand had 
moved when I had had the curious ex- 
perience with my husband — but with per- 
fect legibility, a message of some length 
was written, purporting to come from Mr. 
Caradoc. 

[24] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Its substance was that he had retained 
his consciousness, but felt indescribably 
lost; that he had had no realization that 
he would actually die; that his experience 
was almost overwhelming; and that while 
he was seeking those with whom he had 
some previous association, he had chanced 
to be near Julia. Then when Peter came 
to communicate, and had seen him there, 
he showed him how to send messages. 

Julia asked him certain questions, and 
the writing flashed down upon the paper 
in response to any remark that was made. 
Among other things she explained that I, 
Peter's sister, was a friend of Katharine's. 
At once the words rushed along the 
paper, 

" It is a comfort to be with those who 
know my family." 

It is difficult, perhaps, to give any ade- 

[25] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



quate idea of the impression conveyed of 
Mr. Caradoc's actual presence. By that 
time I had become used to witnessing 
what I felt were genuine communications 
from those who had died, so that I felt 
no alarm nor agitation, and Julia, who 
was really distressed at hearing of Mr. 
Caradoc's unhappiness, and also the 
Jeromes, gradually left most of our end 
of the conversation to me. The experience 
was so impressive that I quite forgot how 
time was flying until suddenly I realized 
that I must leave at once in order to keep 
an engagement. Words to that effect had 
barely left my lips when with great speed 
came this sentence, 

" Don't go. I feel that this may be my 
one chance to express all I feel, and I feel 
horribly." 

I asked if he would care to try com- 

[26] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



municating again the next day, to which 
he agreed. 

It was, then, the next day that I first 
wrote automatically. First I rested my 
hands upon a table to see whether or not 
it would give any sign of there being 
another intelligence present. Then when 
it had begun to stir, assuring me that 
psychic force was indeed in operation, I 
held my pencil in readiness, and rapidly 
page after page was written. The writing 
was not as legible as it became later on, 
but it was possible to discern certain 
phrases on every page from the very first. 

After Mr. Caradoc's name there were 
brief messages to his family. Then in 
reply to my asking if he were happier, 
to my consternation he wrote emphatically 
that he was most unhappy. Whereupon, 
although I felt myself far less experienced 

[27] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



than I knew him to be, and very much his 
intellectual inferior, I asked him quite 
simply if his religion could not be of help 
to him. To this he replied that religion 
as he knew it was too formal to have bear- 
ing on his present circumstances. 

Again I tried to forget everything ex- 
cept his being in distress and needing com- 
fort, and suggested that there could be no 
condition that would not be bettered by 
getting into relationship with God, and 
asked him to try to pray. 

He at once wrote that he did not know 
what to say, so, just as one thinks for any- 
one very ill, I said out loud the most sim- 
ple, inclusive words that came to my 
mind, 

" In the name of Christ I ask for some- 
thing to do for others." 

He wrote them after me, then added, 

[28] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



" Very well, I will try your prayer, but 
little do I believe that it will help." 

I told him then that the next day I was 
going far away, but that wherever I was, 
if he wanted me to write for him, I should 
always be glad to have him come. 

Within the week, when I had reached 
my next destination, he wrote again 
through my hand, telling me that condi- 
tions were becoming very much better. 

Soon, after various other brief communi- 
cations, he wrote that death was in no way 
final, and that because its whole nature was 
misunderstood, he wanted to write about 
it at length. These writings that came he 
alluded to as his book, giving even the 
title, " Fear Not the Crossing." 

I feel that it is all his, no more mine 
than if I had served as a mere everyday 
sort of secretary. However, the circum- 

[29] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



stances being what they were, the whole 
subject of automatic writing being so little 
explored and the chance of influence from 
one's own subconsciousness being a possi- 
bility, I have no right to make any claims 
for the writings, but simply to give them 
to the public for what they are. 

Of the identity of Mr. Caradoc and the 
genuineness of his messages I feel per- 
sonally convinced. And several other con- 
trols have apparently communicated cor- 
rectly through my hand. 

Then, again, I have received some mes- 
sages that have proved to be wrong, and 
frankly I am at sea as to whether the mis- 
takes are owing to the faultiness of my 
mediumship — to my own subconsciousness, 
as it were, cutting in on the wires — or to 
there being so-called impostors on the 
other side. Time after time I have been 

[30] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



greatly surprised at the context of the 
messages I have experienced, which would 
point, I think, to the absence of any per- 
sonal influence of my own — as when Mr. 
Caradoc, a man of so splendid a type that 
one would instinctively imagine his finding 
safe haven at once, described so insistently 
his unhappiness, and, to cite other in- 
stances, the passages about complete an- 
nihilation and about suicide were quite 
unexpected. 

The view set forth about suicide, of 
course, is concerned only with sane, con- 
templated suicide, not with the sort caused 
by abnormal mental conditions, and I im- 
agine was directly meant to reach the ears 
of those in our service who, while not 
hesitating to face the ordeal of fighting, 
were questioning their ability to endure the 
torture and indignities of capture. 

[31] 



Fear Not the Crossing. 



Other questions are perhaps likely to 
occur as to how great an extent my own 
individuality is responsible for these writ- 
ings. I wish that there had once been a 
time when I was sure that all psychic 
phenomena could be explained away as 
simply as have been certain ghosts, by the 
sturdy application of common sense. It 
would no doubt give more weight to my 
convictions to have them of the unwilling 
sort, but they grew quite naturally from 
an agnostic, not antagonistic, point of view. 
I felt, to be sure, that I could not believe 
without proof in anything in the super- 
natural order, and that the natural order, 
defined, did not include such phenomena 
as I have since then personally expe- 
rienced. 

Now I have been forced to rearrange 
and tremendously enlarge my former defi- 

[32] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



nition of natural order — in fact my per- 
sonal position is rather more an unan- 
swered question than a determined state- 
ment, and is awaiting eagerly the develop- 
ments that will undoubtedly come within 
the next few years. It seems to me, how- 
ever, that it will become necessary not only 
to acknowledge that psychic phenomena 
are actual occurrences, but that they are 
caused by the action of forces emanating 
from personalities not embodied in the 
way in which we are. In fact, no other 
hypothesis seems either adequate or tena- 
ble. 

But whenever the limits of man's 
knowledge are extended, there are all sorts 
of barriers to be leveled before the new 
areas of thought can be properly assimi- 
lated. And the boundary-keepers, the 
stanch conservatives, are indispensable to 

[33] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



the welfare of the race. They are right 
to be cautious, but they must not be blind, 
nor must they permit intellectual inertia to 
retard their course. 

It is not for these writings of mine that 
I ask quarter, — that they have value of a 
sort I sincerely believe, but in their pub- 
lication I am not claiming for them a 
scientific merit that they do not deserve. 
Until a mechanical device can be per- 
fected, so sensitive to vibration that it can 
of itself receive and record so-called 
psychic messages, no certainty can be felt 
about the possible proportion of the 
medium's own subconsciousness therein 
transmitted, especially when, as in my 
case, there has been no cessation of ordi- 
nary consciousness. 

For the subject of psychical research as 
a whole, however, for the work of those 

[34] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



intrepid investigators who, caring neither 
for ridicule nor even derision, pursue un- 
swervingly their search for what is true, 
I do solicit an increased discernment and 
a more general comprehension. 



[35] 



FEAR NOT THE CROSSING 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 1$, IQl8. 

The world is about to have a revolution 
in its point of view of death. There is no 
cessation in life, and the perpetuity of life 
is established. It is, therefore, to be 
thought of as an inexhaustible state of 
growth, and strengthening of the person- 
ality until the personality is strengthened 
sufficiently to be merged with the sources 
of all life. There, it becomes lost tempo- 
rarily, but emerges thence purified. 



[39] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February l8th. 

Life is, in its essence, an unfolding of 
the powers that lie undeveloped until 
called into fruition by necessities that 
arise, whereupon they spring into being in 
answer to the demand. Happiness is not, 
therefore, the state most desirable, because 
it too often means stagnation. Rather, ex- 
periences, varied and manifold, are the 
gifts to be sought for from fortune. It is 
through them that the most golden path- 
way of life is found; the way over obsta- 
cles, no matter how severe, leads always 
beyond, and ultimately means the highest 
progress. 

The approach to God lies not over level 
stretches, but directly up towering heights, 

[41] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



which must be traversed, though with 
heart-breaking pain and long continued 
suffering. The price of achievement is 
slight, however, in comparison to the 
abounding joy of attainment. 

And always there is love, kindled by 
love extended. With love in our eyes, we 
are met with love wherever we look until 
its beauty is as constant as the overflowing 
beauty of the skies. 

Let us then meet each day with a new 
sense of proportion. Let us not think of 
death as an ending of our lives, but as an 
incident in them, and as of something not 
too significant. What is significant is love, 
the giving of it generously and the perceiv- 
ing of it generously; the complete, scrupu- 
lous performing of all work offered for 
our doing each day; the realizing of our 
unity as a whole, rather than too keen an 
awareness of our separate entities. 

[42] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Let go the idea of personal individuality. 
Live for God rather than self. Try to 
find Him in service for others. To be 
responsive to His will, to feel His impulses 
govern yours, as yours in turn govern your 
different members, that is indeed to know 
perfect Joy, the Peace of God. 



[43] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February IQth. 

Be sure that God is always present. It 
sometimes seems not possible, but be still 
and think of Him, and at once you are in 
communion and in the attitude of prayer. 
" Ask and you shall receive " is truer than 
you can believe. All good goes to meet 
those who believe; try to cultivate the 
power of receptivity. God's love is limit- 
less, and always effects comfort and fills 
all wants. 



I45] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 20th. 

God is a reality, though unlike the con- 
ception of Him usually held by the people 
with little power for thought. He is 
everywhere, always ready to be called on. 
Mortals little know that God's power can 
be tapped by desire, as it were. Never is 
more asked of us than we are capable of 
doing; however, not always are we capable 
of the doing without calling on the power 
of God to come to our aid. 

We are capable of infinite greatness in 
everything by letting God act through us. 
Do all you can with serenity, knowing 
that always the everlasting arms are indeed 
close by, and that all the strength in the 
world will flow through you if your own 
strength be really drained. 

C47] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Never despair, never doubt. Faith is not 
blind, unreasoning acceptance of dogma, 
nor of the thoughts crystallized by the 
minds of former ages. No, faith is the 
sure, sublime confidence that everything is 
possible in God, through God, and by God. 
Let go Self, and rest in the knowledge that 
God is the power of the world. Then will 
be found the solution of true living. 

Love is the miracle of life. Never 
does a day dawn that brings not forth 
myriad new forms of love. It is the glory 
of the human race; the goal, the reward, 
the constant beauty of all life. Analyze, 
yes, and assimilate or reject qualities shown 
in the characters of other people, but love 
them for their possibilities and do not con- 
demn them for their faults. 

Comprehend your fellow men with the 
perfect gentleness of maternal love. Do 
not be so petty as to offer to men their 

[48] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



deserts, rather rise to the greatness of giv- 
ing freely the love that in its essence is 
divine. Love from a woman is the glory 
transfusing all those who encounter it with 
radiance; and love from a man heightens 
the desire for nobleness and honor. Oh, 
what a wealth abides in life for those who 
dwell apart in God! 



t49l 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 21st. 

There is nothing that can half express 
the life on this side of what mortals call 
death, that change that has been given by 
them particular emphasis. All life is 
change. The transition wrought by suc- 
ceeding years, making the wonderful per- 
sonality of the adult from the animated 
human mechanism called a baby, is really a 
more complete annihilation of the original 
nucleus, than is the change wrought by 
passing from your state to ours. 

And is that state so perfect that altering 
its condition can rationally be feared? 
Surely not. Rather, from a detached 
analysis it ought to be clear to all sincere 
thinkers that certain conditions in your so- 

[51] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



called life are not met adequately. Not 
until love is understood will life on your 
side attain beauty; whereas, on this side, 
the entire emphasis of life is placed dif- 
ferently. 

Here there is a wonder of generosity 
abounding. We are working to give, not 
to get, and in service we find all that once 
we used always to be seeking, always, alas, 
in vain. 

God is much closer than you know. 
You have been told, but do not realize, 
what His presence effects. All that is re- 
quired of you is the mere thinking of 
Him — that alone brings about direct har- 
mony, a state of such beauty, such perfect 
peace and love that it seems astounding 
that this greatest blessing is rarely used. 
I myself considered prayer a childish 
superstition. But to think of God is 
prayer, and that gives strength for every 

[52] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



possible call, and comfort in every sorrow 
and perplexity, and peace sublime and 
boundless. That I never knew, nor do 
most people. 

But the war is changing religion. It 
will be more perfectly comprehended; 
from now on great spiritual development 
will occur. And love will prevail for all 
the race, together with a greater sense of 
personal responsibility. In the place of 
lost ones there will be all mankind to care 
for. The old days cannot return, nor will 
love again be so limited and misunder- 
stood. 

God's love is for all who hunger for it, 
and our power for love, our greatest gift 
from Him, must not be of a different 
quality, narrow in essence, to be jetted 
here and there in cruel niggardliness; but 
rather our love must be so great that the 
warmth of it will fairly radiate in joyous 

[53] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



boundlessness. There will be still un- 
worthy ones, but love has the gift of gen- 
eration. 

Do not cease to have as fine ideals for 
others as for yourself. Discrimination is 
essential, but turn not away from those 
whose faults are grave, and exasperating 
even; reflect on causes and find ways for 
overcoming their results. Create oppor- 
tunities for development. Be, as it were, 
doctors in love. You cannot love too 
much. 



[54] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 22nd. 

Be sure that there is life on this side of 
death. It is wonderfully different, and yet 
equally satisfying so far as the retention of 
individuality is concerned. One is not re- 
solved into a state of lost consciousness; 
one is the same self with a suddenly ex- 
tended vision. It seems at first lonely, even 
overwhelming. Then, as one readjusts old 
ambitions it all gets understood. 

I thought at first I had reached Hell. 
There seemed no God, but horrible desola- 
tion and emptiness. That was because I 
was not tuned, nor could I manipulate my 
new form. I was all at sea, and lonely 
beyond words. Then I thought of God — 
that is, you know, to pray — and in my ask- 

[55] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



ing Him for work to do for others, I found 
my own life once more. At once it all 
grew better, and then one blessing after 
another opened my eyes to the possibilities 
of a joy I had never known before. I 
knew that God existed, and I learned to 
be used by Him by letting His power flow 
through me. There was no longer any 
loneliness, or hesitancy, or horror. 

It is hard to become adjusted at first, 
then it all becomes second nature and, once 
understood, is far better than any previous 
life — mortal life, you call it. There is so 
much more love here for all; there is, too, 
so much beauty. We never lack, for there 
is always every want supplied. 

Our friends can be always approached. 
It is not hard to learn the way of meeting 
all those you wish to see. There is tele- 
pathic communication established by the 
desire for meeting anyone; then, before 

[56] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



you know it, desire is met by fulfillment. 
And communication is here so full of har- 
mony and inspiration that it is a perfect 
union of minds. There is no mistaking 
one another's true ideas, they flow between 
friends as only on your earth at rarest 
moments. 

Then the work each one is given com- 
bines the exercise of all one's best faculties. 
Work for others, involving little exhaus- 
tion and great stimulation, — that is what 
each one finds here by asking for help. 
Here is none of the cruel drudgery of 
forced labor. No, the work we are given, 
we do with the joy of an artist in creative 
achievement. Always knowing that God 
is close, one feels so sure, so confident, so 
full of heavenly happiness. 

The details of life are very lovely here. 
We live with beauty all about. Never are 
we far from it, beauty of colors, and 

[57] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



sounds, and lesser beauties everywhere. 
There is one thing that troubles me: the 
sorrow of my family, left for a time. They 
do not know the happiness of death. It 
frees, ennobles, heightens all the possibili- 
ties life offers. Death is only a transition. 
Be sure of that. It is not in the least final, 
it only changes conditions; and in the place 
of old ones extends others infinitely better 
and more wonderful. 

Never sorrow for those who have passed 
to this state. Pray for their obtaining a 
quick comprehension of all that lies open 
to them. Pray that they reach God with- 
out any interval of bewilderment. Pray 
that they attain serenity of faith. For the 
thoughts of those who love you are like an 
armor of light, and help most wonder- 
fully. We too may pray for you. That 
is one of our blessings, — to know that 
when we think of you with love we are 

[58] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



of actual help and service to you. Think 
often of those you love, thinking, too, of 
God, and good will flow to them and your 
love will be of value. 



[59] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 23rd. 

The life on this side of death has cer- 
tain similarities, but also absolutely dis- 
tinguishing characteristics to life as I used 
to know it. Imagine being free of a body 
of tissues that are always disintegrating 
and having to be reconstructed. Imagine 
the ease with which all too often the body's 
interests obliterate the soul's, and then con- 
sider whether the body, so desperately de- 
sired as a permanent casing for one's soul, 
is intrinsically so ideal as a possession. 

The interminable cleansings, for one 
thing, occupy a great deal of time. And 
since modern plumbing, with its wealth 
of attractions in white enamel, came into 
the world to dwell as a sine qua non, con- 

[61] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



sider the sums required to be spent in 
keeping up one's surface. 

Then the ubiquitous interiors of men 
and their incessant demands! Always 
feeding is going on, usually disguised by 
romantic surroundings and euphonious 
names, but always among you mortals 
there is a closeness in thought and actions 
to food. And organs abound also in your 
interior for varieties of uses, all subject to 
occasional disarrangements and consequent 
discomfort and pain. No, much as I used 
to like my own body, now I feel that it 
would be unbearable to be again limited 
by it. 

There are other advantages derived 
from being so perfectly untrammeled. 
There are no physical laws to confine us. 
Space is no longer unsurmountable. It 
can be traversed at will and with the ra- 
pidity of thought. 

[62] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Desire obtains such complete fulfillment 
now. At best, intercourse with friends 
used to be only a partial union. Now it 
is so perfect, so harmonious, and so thrill- 
ing that friendship is altogether a delight. 
One not only sees those particularly de- 
sired, but meets those who think along the 
same lines. On earth is it not possible 
that those you most would love go by un- 
found and on such distant paths that miss- 
ings — tragic missings — are all too fre- 
quent? Here, there is a law of mutual 
attraction, and whatever is best in one's 
self draws close to those who will further 
inspire and teach. 

There is never an end to growing in 
knowledge. Love transcends all hearts, 
but wisdom never fills; it creates continual 
desire while at the same time it pours out 
abundantly its riches to those who seek 
them. 

C63] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



There is such beauty spreading over life 
that each dawn should be celebrated as 
divine, for each new breath of life can be- 
come a breath of God. Think of each day 
arising full of limitless meaning. Think 
of one's duty being service of a sort that 
is complete happiness to do, and one's 
pleasure being the most beautiful com- 
munion of minds. Each dawn should 
mean a prayer to God, and then by becom- 
ing linked to His infinite power (which 
prayer or thinking of Him always effects), 
there will be a new and splendid strength 
and vital hold. 

There is never anything to face in life 
that cannot be appreciably affected by this 
state of receptivity. If there is any man 
of distinction, reflect on the sort of his 
power, is it of God, or evil? There is 
power in concentration, sometimes oppos- 
ing the divine power, but ultimately it 

[64] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



turns false and wrecks what it has accom- 
plished. Often what seems incomprehen- 
sible in failure is caused just by that — 
the foundation was wrong. Action, of 
course, always stirs first in the mind, and 
if the conception occurs in a mind un- 
touched by God, there is an integral flaw 
that sooner or later infects the whole re- 
sult with disaster. 

God is not usually comprehended, but 
even before one grows to comprehension 
there are instinctive evidences of His pres- 
ence in the immediate, often unwilling, 
assurance granted to men that some things 
are right and others wrong. 

Often those who most freely insist upon 
nonbelief are most close to God in re- 
ality. The honesty that disclaims concur- 
rence in a superstitious, undeveloped defi- 
nition of God points often to a closer ap- 
proach to understanding Him. He is per- 

[65] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



sonal in one sense, but has not the form 
imagined by general conjecture. His 
power is so immense that it is not con- 
ceivable, however. It pervades every- 
thing, and yet there must be personal vo- 
lition to become in tune. 

But so much is prayer to God that is 
not conscious prayer, more people are in 
harmony with His law than know it. The 
gentleness extended, when bitterness has 
first to be suppressed, is a sort of prayer. 
And the love for beauty of sounds and 
colors and forms is prayer. And espe- 
cially does prayer mount up like holy in- 
cense from the hearts of those who see the 
good in other people. 

God's nature is one of such infinite 
power, why cannot it be trusted? Do 
what you can, but feel and know His 
readiness to be called on, and do not hesi- 
tate to ask for strength in need. At last 

[66] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



I know the marvelous extent of His love, 
but I did not use to reflect on it. And it 
is only by reflection that religious con- 
ceptions can grow. 

There is all too often an idea that chil- 
dren must be given a faith suitable to 
their understanding. It is frequently pu- 
erile nonsense. Then when growing boys 
and girls ask, they are not helped because 
their faith must not be shattered. Then 
when fully grown they must not ask ques- 
tions or change or grow out of old mis- 
conceptions because disloyalty might re- 
sult. 

Should the blind, unreasoning continua- 
tion of habits of religious thought be con- 
sidered loyal? Loyal to whom? Would 
one's parents, who perhaps in another 
state of life are growing into a truer 
knowledge of God, would one's parents 
feel pleasure in finding the minds of their 

[67] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



children closed to this truer knowledge; 
and closed moreover — even tightly barred 
— on their account! Would a dark vault 
of blindness in your mind be a worthy 
monument to those you love, or rather, 
would it not be a greater honor to leave for 
them an open glade where through the 
power engendered by your mutual love 
and sympathy, they might come back and 
plant truer knowledge than they had pre- 
viously been able to give? Suppose you 
are wounding to the heart those whom you 
most would love to serve by shutting them 
off in a world apart from you. 

Do all you can to realize that when 
you think of God and think of those you 
love, you establish and generate power. 
This is not a theory, but a fact. Love will 
be engendered that will be actual and 
of true service. Love is not an idle emo- 
tion, but a power, tremendous, in propor- 

[68] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



tion to the purity of the heart experiencing 
it. It is the power that will eventually 
save the world. Each individual must try 
to be radiant with it, for now the forces of 
war fill the world with such horror that 
there must be more beauty and increased 
power in love to meet the fearful need for 
it. Keep free from rancor and narrow 
inability to sympathize. Try to be gen- 
erous always. You cannot love too much, 
— that is the most splendid prayer there 
is to God — loving nobly. 



[69] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 24th. 

The conditions of life on this side of 
death are most interesting. At first, I 
could not realize what had happened. I 
clung so to the old conditions that I was 
all at sea. I wanted to keep on as I was, 
and yet I wasn't any longer. Can you 
imagine my despair at feeling thrust out 
of my own self, as it were? I could not 
seem to bear it. 

I never thought of God — consequently 
for me He was not. Nor was Christ more 
to me than a name so familiar that, in a 
sense, the meaning of His life had ceased 
to be a reality. 

[71] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



If Peter had not found me near Julia 
when he came to talk with Gail, my agony 
might still be going on. But he helped 
me to communicate, and that meant a great 
deal, though I could hardly bear the risk 
of stopping. I felt as if it might be my 
only chance to express all I felt — and I 
felt horribly. 

Peter tried to take me with him, but 
I could not go away. I had to stay near 
people who were alive and meant some- 
thing to me from former knowledge. It 
was a comfort to feel that Katharine and 
Gail were friends. 

Then, the next night, when I found 
that I could write again with Peter there 
to help, I felt assured that I was not 
entirely thrust away, as was my body. 
I felt that my identity was secure, and 
Gail assured me of her willingness to 
write for me all that I wanted to set down. 

[72] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Life is still a growth, it always must 
be that, a closer and closer approach to 
God. But the joys by the way are con- 
stant here, whereas, formerly they were at 
best intermittent. 

The war makes conditions abnormal 
here as elsewhere, but at least we never 
doubt the outcome. That is so assured we 
regard the Allies' victory as certain. The 
suffering, however, is terrific. Men going 
on in violence and in hate have the hardest 
sort of struggle to find their way here, and 
have to be helped by skilled workers. 
Peter and Jack both are there all the time. 
Their youth speaks to the youth of the 
others. Peter was on hand for Jack, then 
as he didn't want to leave the scene, they 
worked together. They manage splen- 
didly, but get exhausted every now and 
then, and at such times I see them. 

The war has let loose forces on this 

[73] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



side too, that formerly were well in abey- 
ance. As love engenders love, so do other 
qualities when concentrated terrifically, 
engender similar qualities in great strength. 
So there are the counterparts of hate, 
craft, cruelty, and horror, all to be con- 
quered above the scenes of war. There 
can be but one outcome, but the cost is 
inestimably great and the time required is 
long. The duration of the war cannot 
be interminable, however, and already 
there is a victory in sight. 

Do not desire a too speedy peace. Be 
very sure before the terms are settled that 
there is no possible chicanery anywhere. 
There has been created there such dia- 
bolic skill in dissembling and complotting 
that there cannot be too much caution 
exerted. 

The work on this side is terrific for the 
soldiers coming over. It is necessary to 

[74] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



have only skilled helpers, as it requires so 
much strength and aptitude. There will 
be a new love born to the world with this 
terrific travail, however, for all mankind 
are brothers in sorrow, though all too often 
markedly individualistic in comfort and 
security. In the place of those who have 
gone on, there must be found new hope 
and work to make life bearable, and uni- 
versal sympathy will ensue. There will 
be all mankind still left to serve and care 
for, and a purer, more splendid power of 
love will find its way to enter life. 



L75] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 25th. 

There can be established bureaus of 
communication from your side to ours, 
but at best the attempts made along that 
line, so far, are, as a rule, unsatisfactory. 
Imagine a telephone exchange without 
rules of any sort, and consider how utter 
would be the ensuing confusion. Do not 
trust to mediumistic messages unless you 
know beyond doubt that perfect honesty 
can be assured. The question of taking 
money for services rendered to the living 
and to those who are living too, to be sure, 
but in another state, seems, if not a ques- 
tion of morality, one, at least, of taste. 

[77] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



To assist in helping those who are dear 
to each other, to help in establishing their 
interchange of thoughts and love is a sort 
of holy privilege based on a gift not to 
be used commercially. Surely it would 
desecrate maternity to commercialize it. 
So would affection be brutally debased, 
if it were bought and sold. So this power, 
that is in a way a gift of God, ought never 
to be sold. There are certain moments 
or interludes in life that are so closely 
bound to God that one's environment forth- 
with takes on the aspect of a temple in 
His sight; and to barter there is not per- 
missible. 



[78] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



February 26th. 

There is danger in trying to communi- 
cate experimentally. It should never be 
attempted save when the longing to talk 
with some loved one impels desire. Then 
the thought and love for him will be a 
safeguard. 

There are triflers on this side, so be- 
ware of putting yourself into a position 
where they can become too familiar. Love 
and the thought of God are the only ade- 
quate protections, and these emotions are 
not possible where detached scientific in- 
terest is the only motive for seeking com- 
munication with our side. 

There has come to me more and more 

[79] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



strongly the appreciation of natures wise 
through love. Warmth and generosity are 
so much more vital than intellectuality, 
that one experienced in caring for others 
has a far greater grasp than those whose 
thought has dwelt on abstractions. 

It seems as if death should be bridged 
with reverence and love, rather than with 
curiosity. The seances, conducted in the 
name of science, too often fail to procure 
responses from beautiful spirits. When a 
medical school has open clinics, are the 
patients the finest type of human beings, 
or are they, rather, the odds and ends of 
the race? In a similar fashion, the seances 
conducted by distinguished scientists are 
like open clinics in failing to attract the 
spirits truly representative. Those who 
are best are serving God, and idle calls 
do not reach them, but the power of love 
always effects response. 

[80] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



If mortals would be ready to listen, 
there would be progress, in likelihood, but 
interminable petty questionings occur to 
settle doubts, establish proofs, and what 
not. What is there that can be said to 
people whose first tenet is that nothing 
can possibly be accepted by minds so bril- 
liant and sagacious as their own, save 
things they know already? First, identity 
must be established; then if words convey 
familiar meanings at once, it is wisely said, 
" Do not give that credence as genuine; 
the action of our subconscious memory is 
being evinced." Then if words offer new 
ideas, " Ah, ha," they say, " this may or 
may not be so. How can we prove it? " 
Under such conditions wise spirits cease 
their willingness to attend such meetings 
and give them up in disappointed grief. 

Where love extends the hope of inter- 
course, all goes differently. The happi- 

[81] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



ness of coming back to talk where sympa- 
thy abounds is very great, — to talk to will- 
ing ears, to feel an answering love, — that 
is indeed worth while. 

It is best not to ask questions of the 
future. It is not always certain in detail. 
When those who love you know something 
you would be helped by knowing, let them 
inform you unasked. 

And treat their coming as a visit, not 
of a prophet, but of a much loved friend. 
It is not pleasant to be bulldozed into 
oracularity. Courteousness is a spiritual 
quality based on sympathy, and a necessity 
in every sort of intercourse. But that, 
strangely enough, is all too often forgotten 
in intercourse with spirits on this side, 
who are thereby puzzled, to put it very 
mildly. There should be the same con- 
sideration usual in every civilization. 



[82] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



0&* 



February 28th. 

There is so much importance in teach- 
ing others the truth about this beautiful 
freedom obtained through death that we 
must go on describing what I've come to 
understand. From all I used to think, I 
expected that there would be complete 
transformation, that all the meaning of 
life would become changed, but it is not 
so much changed, as enlarged. 

The thoughts prevalent about the trans- 
muting touch of death are all wrong. 
There was never more clearly proved that 
the law of cause and effect is true, than 
here, and now. Personalities built on 

[83] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



weakness, re r ylt in weakness here, but the 
reverse is gloriously true also, — that those 
who are strong in their effort to do what 
is right are building of themselves true 
reflections of God. Each decision, each 
action, each thought for nobility, all count 
far more than is realized, and a character 
built by years of strong striving toward 
virtue reaches a state of radiance here that 
is its own reward. 

There is here a flowering of personality 
— if that can be understood. In life as you 
know it, you contrive perhaps the roots 
and first beginnings of your personality, 
and the soundness and perfection of them 
result here in the bursting into bloom of 
your achievement. 

You are able by simply doing each day 
God's will, as you know it, to be divinely 
creative. By your volition you can choose 
to construct of yourselves agents of God. 

[84] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



There is no necessity for the use of rare 
talent, or for the use of anything each 
individual has not at his call, by learning 
to follow continually the course that will 
every day be shown him, the course that 
lies opened by God. Christ's two com- 
mandments of Love are sufficient as the 
rules of life. Love God and Others, and 
you will inevitably attain the Self that is 
both your right and privilege to create. 
For it is really your own volition that con- 
structs your Self. You are not created, 
the beginning of you is created, and from 
that beginning you must contrive a per- 
sonality, not inadvertently for the few 
years that you call a lifetime, but con- 
scious always that what you acquire is a 
character, a spirit, an entity for all time, 
and that the most important purpose in 
life is to learn to be used by God, in order 
that His will may be universally done. 

[85] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Nothing else can matter if love is the 
mainspring of one's life. 



[86] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March 1st. 

The subject of communication seems to 
be the most vital after the reconception of 
the significance of death. When the na- 
ture of that is once understood, the means 
of seeking loved ones is at once desired. 
And the means too often offers danger to 
those who do not secure the help of proper 
channels. 

Beware of dishonesty on this side as 
well as on your own. Too much care can 
not be taken, because it is much easier to 
avoid trouble by never letting it occur, 
than to try to prevent a repetition of in- 
tercourse with undesirable triflers who 
have once found access to you. 



[8 7 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Never seek communication idly, and 
never seek it insistently. Remember that 
those you love have both rights and duties 
on this side, and are not to be called when 
there is nothing of importance to exchange 
with them. Love is important and the 
solace of companionship often a true need; 
but even that should not be demanded, 
rather requested, for surely no one would 
wish to upset too rudely an event of im- 
portance by calling away one he was fond 
of. Seek gently, thinking of your desire 
tempered with the condition that it be 
convenient to answer you. Then, if all 
be well, your wish for communication will 
be fulfilled. And do not seek too often. 
If your need is great, prepare so that you 
may be sought. 

Passivity and thoughts of love open the 
way for those on this side to reach you. 
Listening well, with appreciative under- 

[88] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



standing, is rare in any sort of intercourse, 
but especially rare in this sort. Receiv- 
ing is really a beautiful virtue, especially 
the receiving of ideas, but giving is popu- 
larly supposed to be the better procedure, 
and has all too greatly usurped the place 
in our ideals to which receiving is really 
entitled. 



[89] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March 2nd. 

The state of heaven is possible wherever 
God is thought of. There are places in 
your life so filled by thoughts of Him 
that they are actually blessed ground. 
Then Hell, too, overlaps your earth. 
Where vice and sensuousness are the 
springs men's minds drink from, there a 
Hell surrounds them, sometimes gilded, 
but integrally desolate and fearful. 

There is a sort of influence permeating 
locations. A splendid person is actually 
valuable to a community, not so much 
for what he does, though that may be 
much, as for the actual benefit derived 



[91] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



from the telepathic effect of the commun- 
ion with God established by his person- 
ality. There is a radiance and strength 
of love engendered by his presence that 
infects the environment with a quality of 
value. It is hard for you to believe that 
things have true reality that your scientists 
cannot resolve into waves or vibrations, 
and measure; but the greatest realities are 
difficult to limit by accuracy. The great- 
ness of God is incommensurable; likewise 
the greatness in quality, but fractional in 
part, that is an attribute belonging to 
everyone whose actions are governed by 
ideals. Houses have reflected virtue often. 
And mountain tops, where exaltation has 
been felt by scores, also become sacred in 
greater measure than the churches, dedi- 
cated by ceremony, but desecrated by 
shallow forms. Some churches, used by 
saints, are truly sacred, but, alas, not al- 

[92] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



ways is that so. This is why relics are 
treasured, often they have a certain power. 



[93] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March 3rd. 

Tonight I want to go on about the sub- 
ject of communication. It is one of great 
delicacy. Before it should be attempted 
the view of death must be true. There 
must not be undue excitement induced by 
communicating and readjusting old beliefs 
simultaneously. If individuals ask you for 
help, first teach them the meaning of 
death. Be sure that they regard it as a 
transaction of not too vital importance. 
Be sure that they truly conceive the abso- 
lute reality of existence on this side. There 
must be continual belief in the presence 
of those loved ones desired. Their inter- 

C95] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



communing thoughts will create a favora- 
ble atmosphere. Let that be well es- 
tablished before definite messages flow 
through you. Otherwise there is a risk 
emotionally; the strain of finding proved 
a mere wild hope will startle too extremely 
the average mind. In other words, be 
very sure that communication is grown 
into gradually. And even then it is not 
wise for everybody. Be intensely careful 
of too suddenly upsetting long established 
channels of thought. Open minds are 
rare, by that I mean minds readily capable 
of readjustment. 

So long have the so-called dead been 
completely banished, the truth of what 
we know now is only for those whose 
readiness to reconceive the meaning of 
death is apparent. Do not try to prose- 
lytize. There are many who are better 
fitted for sorrow than for a change in 

[96] 






Fear Not the Crossing 



thought. Those whose minds have long 
ceased growing are better mourning than 
completely bewildered, with their old con- 
cepts shaken, and the new one too revolu- 
tionary to enter their perceptions. 

It is not really new, this concept. 
Christ proved it once, but proof is not 
more needed by mankind than the power 
to perceive that a proof has been given. 
Arrested development should have come 
down the ages with pestilence, famine, and 
war as something mankind beseeches to 
be delivered from. Yet it is unfortunately 
seldom recognized, save by those it does 
not limit. 

When receiving communications, you 
must listen for thoughts, if that is intelli- 
gible. Be ready to write and then set 
down rapidly all that comes into your 
mind, for though automatic writing can 
be done physically, it goes far better 

[97] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



through an understanding of the minds. 
That is why mediumship is sometimes un- 
safe. When a mind of one sort uses a 
quite different personality as a blind in- 
strument for communicating, there is com- 
pulsion, even force, exerted, often hyp- 
notic in character. And while it is most 
difficult on this side, the effects on your 
side are often still more troubling. 
Whereas, when sympathy and understand- 
ing exist, thoughts can be given with com- 
parative facility. 

It seems as if I never lived before en- 
tirely. I know at last the spiritual mean- 
ing of life, and love, and peace. And how 
greatly I long to help others is shown in 
the effort I am making to get my experi- 
ence across to them. 

Love is so little understood and so mar- 
velous in its inherent power that it can 
save the world even now. It is kindled 

[98] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



by itself and spreads around a life radi- 
ant with it as the sunset glory spreads 
across the skies. And yet love is still rare. 
Christ's two commandments could regen- 
erate the race, and yet with millions of 
people professing to be His, how many 
ever spend one day in perfect service to 
His law? 

That, too, must be established to your 
satisfaction, that love is the motive com- 
pelling desire for communication. Cur- 
iosity has no right when idle spirits here 
are ready to make trouble. Never open 
the doors excepting with the hope of call- 
ing someone special. If I am here, or 
Peter, we can afford protection, but do 
not incur risk. There is unusual chaos 
now with hosts of such abnormal spirits 
arriving that it is sometimes terrific. 

But tell everyone in crossing over to 
think of God and to rest sure that help 

[99] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



will come. The feeling of desolation can 
be overcome by holding to the expectation 
that God's love is near and will prevail in 
reaching you. Know that the words of 
Christ are true in every sense: there are 
indeed mansions in abundance, but the 
adjusting now is difficult. Such forces are 
let loose that whole expanses are filled 
with struggle. But love and prayer — 
which is in simple essence the mere hold- 
ing in mind the thought of God — are in 
their nature so strong that a sort of tele- 
pathic communication brings help to your 
side unfailingly. If you are unable to 
conceive mentally God, think then of those 
you hold the dearest. Whoever has 
touched in you the greatest longing to be 
fine, or who has stirred your desire to help 
others, think then of that person, and in- 
directly you will think of God. 

Love is far greater than the reach of 

[ ioo] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



sex. Sex still exists, but differently. In 
mortal life, monogamy is the law, not the 
desire of the race, and the desires have 
always to be governed. Here sexual love 
is purer in essence. It is the love between 
two people who are true mates and is not 
endangered by physical craving. That 
there is complete union is true, but it is 
the divine response to perfect mating, po- 
tentially but rarely possible on earth, 
where union is too often debased by over- 
mastering physical appetite. Love here of 
every sort is gloriously beautiful. It is 
because love here is more universal, and 
wherever it abounds its radiance trans- 
fuses all life with wonder. Its power ap- 
plies everywhere. Love perfectly and you 
will touch the very glory of life. You 
cannot love too much. 



[ioi] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March 5th. 

Yes, I have come to go on with our 
book. It is nothing but a continuation of 
what I said about communication. Be 
sure that it is the result of an understand- 
ing of the nature of death. Be sure not 
to incur risk by shocking people suddenly 
into a new point of view before they have 
ability to grasp it. Because a man poten- 
tially can swim, he should not be tossed 
in over his depth as an initiation in swim- 
ming; he must begin in the shallows and 
reach the depths himself. So in communi- 
cation go very slowly, always taking the 
utmost care to open no doors to those who 
should not enter. 

[ 103 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



There is tragedy in suicide. I have 
found out its terrible side. If it is under- 
stood suicide will unquestionably cease. It 
is not in the least a remedy, as people 
sometimes think. It is a tragic, farcical 
proceeding as a means of ending trouble, 
and I hardly can wait to describe the tor- 
ture self-inflicted by attempting that so- 
called avenue of escape. It is rather an 
entrance to an increased state of horror. 
Nothing can ever be alleviated thereby. 
I have a great presentiment that there is 
need for an understanding of this subject 
because there has been all too prevalent 
a curious attitude begotten by cowardice. 
The tales from prison camps are nothing 
compared to the experience of those who 
choose the possibility of suicide rather 
than the continuation of the proved dis- 
comfort and anguish of their days interned. 

Pain and horror must be faced, though 

[ 104] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



with terrific suffering. Pain must pass 
eventually. Each minute that goes by, 
goes by forever, and with it the horror 
and pain of it, but the courage engendered 
by each hour one carries on, is a sublime 
creation of permanent beauty. The crea- 
tion of valor, the splendid achievement of 
long sustained fortitude is the significant 
result of days passed through with tor- 
ment; and the personal distaste for carry- 
ing on must be dispelled by thoughts of 
God and Christ and eternity. 

Suicide is spiritually degrading. What 
centuries have accomplished can thereby 
be lost and anguish is intensified rather 
than diminished. 

Always remember that God can be 
reached, and reaching Him will mean al- 
leviation. No matter what the pain and 
horror may be, endure heroically and think 
of God. As I have said, if God you can- 

[io 5 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



not conceive, think of whatever influence 
has been the highest in your life, and that 
will establish the telepathic connection — 
if I may call it that — between you and the 
Source of all power. It may seem incon- 
ceivable, but always that brings help. It 
may act slowly, but always it acts, and you 
must have patience and faith. Sometimes 
to get results change of events have first 
to be impelled by long planning, and some- 
times obstacles require overcoming. But 
know beyond doubt that help asked for by 
those who ask in the name of Christ or 
with love of what is fine in their hearts, 
know beyond doubt that help in some form 
will be at once directed to them. 



[106] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March Qth. 

Last night I described in a measure the 
horrible result of suicide. It is a gloomy 
subject at best, but with my new knowl- 
edge its aspect assumes still darker color. 
Remember always that prayer is indeed a 
means of alleviating every unbearable con- 
dition, whereas suicide only disintegrates 
completely the possibility of aid reaching 
you. It cannot be too strongly reiterated 
that suicide must never be contemplated. 



[ 107] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March IOtk. 

Today I want to write about intuition. 
There is a great deal of suggestion exerted 
from this side, and sometimes it can be a 
great benefit. The people who say most 
frequently, " I don't know what to do," 
or " I cannot think of anything to say," 
are just the ones in need of help, and yet 
this positive negativity of theirs makes it 
difficult, even impossible, to help them. 
If any situation seem unbearable, or if it 
is not as bad as that, simply unpleasant, 
make your mind passive — does the phrase 
listening mentally convey more clearly the 
state of mind I speak of as passivity? — 
and help will be directed to you. 

[ 109 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



Despair is its own punishment. It closes 
the mind to benefits of every sort. It is 
like a black veil obscuring inside it those 
who experience it. No matter how the 
light beats down upon them, in their per- 
ception all is transfused with gloom. 

Never let yourself give up the readiness 
for joy. That is one reason why it is not 
felt by some people. It could be found if 
it were sought. 

Love of self takes curious forms. Some- 
times it builds of personal loss or personal 
griefs a Monument of Termination, and 
on its altars they perpetually make obla- 
tions. That is to despair, to hold the firm 
conviction that all that is loved or beau- 
tiful has terminated. And it really never 
can terminate. 

God is the power of all life, and His 
strength precludes finitism. There may be 
sources of joy in your life entering and 

[no] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



then passing out, but how base to despair 
on that account. Because one is blessed 
once, one is always blessed, for memories 
that are wonderful enrich beyond words. 
Because, then, a joy be changed to a 
memory, is one then to become morose, 
self-centered, unloving, to others? Or 
should one treat a memory as so beautiful 
as to be hallowing? 

Surely a great loss implies a greatness 
in experience. It is not in essence so 
tragic as monotony of emotion. Missing 
is much sadder than separating. And los- 
ing a great joy after having known it can- 
not take it away ; it changes it to a memory, 
but it is still a gift of God. 

And always know that if death were 
understood, it would not be so dreaded. It 
is a barrier when so regarded, not other- 
wise. I cannot repeat too often the won- 
der of this state. It is not remote from 

[in] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



yours, but overlaps it. As day and night 
are different, changing in character the 
areas they occupy, so does what you call 
death change in character the life you 
know at present. But death is not the 
night descending on your life, it is the 
dawn of transcendent beauty that makes 
possible a glorious clarity and under- 
standing. 

Many who comprehend the meaning of 
love and service live on your side in har- 
mony with God, but such individuals are 
rare. They are much loved and through 
love for them others learn the mean- 
ing of love for God. The value of such 
lives is very great and they go on their 
way under special protection, called here 
and there by seeming circumstances that 
are really events long before arranged, to 
help by their influence in the work of 
those on this side. But they are usually 

C112] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



people whose sympathies are enlarged by 
a wide range of experiences and who have 
known sorrow of many sorts. 

Sorrow nobly accepted, with love of 
others still paramount, purges selfishness 
away and leaves a heart in readiness for 
God's commands. 

Happiness is not joy. It is a state of 
placidity as easily ruffled by every breath 
that stirs, as are the lifeless waters of a 
little lake. But joy is the result of achieve- 
ment. It comes from a comprehension of 
the nature of God, and such a comprehen- 
sion has to be reached by living through 
self-consideration to universal service. 

There is no way of comprehending God 
till love is known — that love so pure and 
boundless that its vast beauty is as mag- 
nificent as the open sea's. It cannot be 
attained at once. But where there is de- 
sire to do good, where there is faith in the 

[113] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



worth of doing each day all that appears 
as one's duty, where there is generosity in 
love, there is always aid at hand to be 
called on. 

Do not feel that you must know every- 
thing at once, and let thoughts of despair 
enter because you realize your present in- 
ability to see all your way clearly before 
you. Live simply each day as you ought, 
and when actually facing puzzling condi- 
tions rest sure that what is sometimes 
called intuition will show you the path. 
It is always the message you need. 



[114] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March Ifth. 

The subjectivity of spirits on this side 
is something that I touched on in speak- 
ing of what you call intuition. There is 
constantly telepathic control when there is 
opportunity or desire for it. Be more pas- 
sive. Never let your mind be closed by 
distress or anxiety. Rather, cultivate the 
habit of listening reflectively, when in 
doubt or trouble. There is always a sure 
way of bettering the circumstances that 
trouble you. Try to receive help and it 
will immediately be at hand. That is, it 
will be immediately directed towards you, 
and though the evidence of such aid be 

[US J 



Fear Not the Crossing 



indiscernible, be confident that conditions 
will unquestionably improve. 

Try to realize the meaning of " Children 
of God." It is so often used as an empty 
phrase that the wonder of its truth is 
veiled. Familiarity does indeed pervade 
with obscurity things so intrinsically mar- 
velous that could one but get a fresh im- 
pression of them suddenly, there would be 
amazed delight. 

There is nothing to be more guarded 
against than the dulling of the perceptive 
faculties through long continued repeti- 
tions of sensations. Experiences of the 
greatest beauty and delight are undertaken 
with the dawning of each day, but how 
rarely are they undertaken by spirits prop- 
erly keen and appreciative. To let adven- 
tures go by unnoticed is so frequent as 
almost to be the rule, and little can you 
measure the loss of life that results. 

[116] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



People are very saving about futile 
things like money, but prodigal with time. 
Never let a minute go by untasted. Rest, 
of course, but rest with pleasure, not with 
negative dullness. And bear in mind that 
beauty and blessings of every sort abound, 
but cannot of themselves create delight. 
There must be, if not volition, at least 
gentle spiritual listening, readiness of ap- 
preciation and of perception — how can I 
describe it? — else the wealth poured out 
upon your life is lavished unenjoyed. 



[117] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



s 



March l6tfi. 

There is a great deal more to say about 
letting those who are on this side be of 
service to you. You must understand how 
those who loved you once continue to love 
you even more than formerly; for love is 
not meted out according to what each in- 
dividual deserves to receive. Its measure 
is governed by the heart conceiving it, and 
here where we are in closer communion 
with God, the quality of the love we give 
is more valuable. It would be strange if 
this were not so, but yet few people realize 
this. Imagine then our longing to be of 
use to those whom we care for as we never 

[119] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



before were capable of caring. Remember 
that though your prayers for us may be 
frequent, ours for you are almost per- 
petual; so greatly has our power of love, 
and wisdom in loving, increased. 

Put anxiety away and live each day to 
its utmost, and let others bear you along, 
in their love, to God. And keep your 
minds ready for the thoughts we send. 
There is no saying where thoughts come 
from, what circumstance stirs into play 
trains of associations; but often thoughts 
are planted by messengers of God. Then 
there occurs a gradual helping, that is 
often called self-poise or self-control, or 
strength of character, that adjusts the indi- 
vidual and the existing condition. It is 
almost never that this help is understood, 
but its nature is very wonderful to those 
who comprehend its source. 



[ 120] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



March IQth. 

Tonight I want to describe Purgatory 
so-called, the state that spirits enter post- 
haste through death. Its horror is not hor- 
ror truly, it is its complete strangeness that 
is at first so overwhelming. 

When I came to it I thought it was 
Hell. But that, I have learned, is not for 
the usual run of people. Where souls in 
rare instances have become utterly corrupt 
and degraded, they are most loathsome 
monsters, incapable finally of making over 
into finer specimens. Usually there is re- 
habilitation possible for everyone. But 

[121] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



there are these monsters of vice and 
bestiality incapable of further progress to- 
wards righteousness: and Hell is for them. 
It is not everlasting torment — that is ab- 
horrent even to think of, and surely an 
institution impossible for God, with His 
infinite greatness of love to have conceived, 
— but it is complete annihilation. There 
is thereby a purification for the world, not 
a punishment in motive. It is really mer- 
ciful, for those who have degraded beyond 
the limits of most imaginations find no 
comfort in the retention of identity. 

But Purgatory is what I particularly 
wish to describe, for an understanding of 
it would very much assist people to pass 
through that first desolate confusion. It 
is well known that frequently the basis of 
fear is lack of previous experience, or the 
reaction caused by encountering the un- 
known. And after leaving one's body, one 

[ 122] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



is thrust immediately into a fundamentally 
different state. The state is of itself far 
superior to that formerly experienced, but 
this strangeness often frightens people hor- 
ribly. One is so free, that though freedom 
may have been desired for years, it renders 
the newcomer partially numb with terror, 
and all too often a paralyzing of thought- 
control ensues. One is not really para- 
lyzed — that would make one easy for 
others to help — but one seems to clutch 
wildly at the impossible previous state, 
filling so completely the whole conscious- 
ness with dismay and fright, that although 
assistance is proffered it cannot reach the 
consciousness, that must first subside to 
quiescence to be effectually tuned to re- 
ceptivity. 

If people could make the crossing, 
thinking of God and Christ, and with love 
of what is fine still paramount in their 

C 123 ] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



minds, then for them Heaven would be at 
once attained. Prayers of others for you, 
direct perhaps more helpers to your side; 
but your own prayer is essential before you 
can become capable of receiving assistance. 
Dismay, lack of faith in the eternal wis- 
dom of the Maker of All, unwillingness to 
accept conditions because they are new, 
without weighing their merits, which I 
assure you far surpass all hopes held pre- 
viously, all these ungracious fears and un- 
reasoning perturbations close the doors to 
the wonderful joy that can become yours 
so easily. 

Do not let your thoughts center on your 
own identity. Your new form will require 
understanding before you realize its excel- 
lencies. Mine made me utterly forlorn, 
and at first I felt that I could not bear 
having such a change thrust upon me. But 
with readiness to go on living and faith 

E 124] 



Fear Not the Crossing 



in God's love and wisdom, all the difficul- 
ties decrease and vanish. 

None comes over unwatched. Always 
bear that in mind. Do what you are able 
to do to retain your equanimity, and if you 
are frightened, guard against dismay — 
which will mean Purgatory — and cling to 
the thought that you — even as Christ — are 
God's child, and ask with peace and love 
in your heart for aid. And then will the 
beauty of Heaven be opened for you. 

That is the message that I want to send 
at once. It may mean infinite help to 
thousands. Do not try to make those who 
are disinclined, take stock in me. I do 
not wish to be a cult, God knows. But 
this I feel, that if my new knowledge of 
death can help even one soul, then the 
knowledge I have must be at his disposal. 
There could, perhaps, be such anguish 
saved so many by this account, I long to 

[ 125 J 



Fear Not the Crossing 



have it published. Then those who under- 
stand can at their time of crossing, cross 
all the way to God. If you will let me 
come, I will write more some time, but the 
desire I felt at first to prove my identity 
and the fact that I still existed has been 
completely satisfied. Then my greater de- 
sire later to help others to free themselves 
from the fear of death, that, too, is satis- 
fied. I am subsiding from my insistent 
writing to the gentler writing of a narrat- 
ing friend. Let me come when you can, 
and keep me in your thoughts and know 
how much you are in mine. I cannot 
thank you enough for what youVe done 
for me. 
That is all. 



[126] 



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